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Written for the Los Aiiffeles Chamber of 

Commerce by Harry Ellmgion Brook 



'Glorious 



A city that has made a growth from ^ 
a population of 11,000 in 1880 to one 
of 150,000 today, multiplying its in- 
habitants more than thirteen times in Climate' 
less than a quarter of a century, is 
certainly something out of the ordi- 
nary, even in this country of rapidly 
growing cities. It is not without 
reason that Los Angeles has been 
termed the "Chicago of the South- 
west." 





WINTER SCEI 



LOS ANGELES 



The first question usually asked by 
newcomers who mark the wonderful 
activity displayed here in city building 
is, to paraphrase Shakespeare : "Upon 
what meat doth this our city feed, that 
it has grown so great? " 

First and foremost, as a reason for 
the phenomenal development of Los 






Angeles and Southern California, may 
be placed our "glorious climate." It 
is a hackneyed subject, and some of 




OUNTAIN TRAIL TO WILSON' 



S PEAK, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 



our Eastern friends are inclined to 
sneer at it, but after all it is a valuable 
asset, not only on account of the 
pleasure which it adds to life, but be- 
cause it brings us a large immigra- 
tion of wealthy settlers, who are 
tired of the rigor of an Eastern winter 
and the torrid heat of an Eastern sum- 
mer, also because it facilitates the 




SAN GABRIEL MISSION, NEAR PASADENA 



cultivation of valuable crops that 
cannot be raised elsewhere in this 
country, and, furthermore, it facili- 
tates certain lines of manufacturing, 
which work under disadvantages east 
of the mountains. 

One of the main features of the cli- 
mate of Southern California is its 



equability, there being a difference of 
only 13 degrees between the average 
maximum for July and December in 
Los Angeles, and a difference of only 
16 degrees between the average mini- 
mum for the same months. Another 
notable feature of the climate of South- 
ern California is the dryness of the 
atmosphere, which facilitates perspir- 
ation, so that a temperature of 100 
degrees is less oppressive than one of 




A GOOD BATH AT TERMINAL ISLAND IN JANUA 

85 degrees on the Atlantic coast. 
Many Eastern people who visit Los 
Angeles during the winter months are 
accustomed to observe that it must be 
awfully hot in summer, considering 
that it is so mild in winter. This is 
not true. As above stated, there are 
only a few degrees difference between 
the summer and winter climates. The 



Products 



main distinction lies in the rainy and 
dry seasons. Rain falls between No- 
vember and March, the average total 
rainfall being about 15 inches for the 
season. Two or three days of rain are 
followed by weeks of cloudless skies. 
It is no wonder that invalids rapidly 
regain their health in this balmy cli- 
mate, especially when they are wise 
enough to avoid the cities and take to 
the foothills, or mountains, or the sea- 
shore. 

It is, however, by no means only to 
climate that we look for our living in 
this section. This may easily be seen 
from a statement recently published 
by the Los Angeles Chamber of Com- ^ 
merce, which showed that the esti- 
mated value of the principal product^ 
of the seven southern counties of Cali- 
fornia, of which Los Angeles is the 
commercial metropolis, for 1902, 
aggregated $97,000,000, including 
miscellaneous manufactured products. 
The most important of these products 
were citrus fruits, $11, 000, 000 ; gold 
and silver, 4,071,800; petroleum, 
$12,500,000; borax, $1,286,000; 
hay, $3,250,000 ; vegetables, and 
fruits consumed, $3,500,000 ; dried 
fruits and raisins, $2,300,000 ; grain, 
4,607,500 ; canned goods, $1,600,- 
000 ; sugar, $4,250,000 ; nuts, $1,- 
750,000 ; cement, clay, brick, sand- 
stone and granite, $1,104,000; beer. 



$950,000 ; beans. $2,000,000 ; pork, 
beef, mutton, dressed. $3,328,982 ; 
miscellaneous manufactured products, 
$32,000,000. 




A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DRIVEWAY 



A I rading Lq5 Angeles is rapidly becoming an 
Center important trading center, not only for 

retail establishments, but also for job- 
bers and wholesalers. The trade of 
our wholesale merchants extends from 
Central California on the north, to 
Arizona and New Mexico and Sonora 
on the southeast. With the comple- 



V 




CARRYING MILK IN BOSTON, JANUARY 1ST 

tion of the government deep sea har- 
bor at San Pedro, work upon which 
is now far advanced, we may look for 
an important trade with the Orient, 
Los Angeles being the western end of 
the shortest line between the two 
oceans. When the Isthmian canal is 



completed, this trade will be vastly 
increased. 

A few years ago it was not believed '"^'^"' ■ 
that Los Angeles could ever become facturin^g 
an important manufacturing city, be- 
cause fuel was so expensive, coal at 
at that time costing about $10 a ton. 
Since then this has been changed by 




CARRYING MILK IN LOS ANGELES, JANUARY 1ST 

the development of petroleum. It 
costs at present about 75 cents a 
barrel, equivalent to about $2.75 per 
ton for good coal. 

Still cheaper power is furnished by 
electricity, derived from mountain 
streams, which is brought to Los 



Angeles from the Santa Ana cation^ 
in San Bernardino county, a distance 
of 85 miles. Work is now under 
way upon a still longer transmission 
line from Kern county, a distance of 
nearly 200 miles. 

Another advantage possessed by 
manufacturers in this section is found 
in the high freight rates from the east, 
which act as a sort of a protective 
tariff. The mild climate makes un- 
necessary the construction of costly 
buildings for factories, or expenditure 
for heating in winter. The dryness 
of the atmosphere greatly facilitates 
manufactures in which wood and 
glue or wool play a part, and it is 
believed that ere long this city will 
become a great center for such 
branches of manufacturing. Last, 
but not least, our manufacturers and 
business men in Los Angeles enjoy 
the great advantage of being free 
from those troublesome and demor- 
alizing labor disturbances, which are 
so common in most of the large man- 
ufacturing cities of the country. Pub- 
lic opinion in Los Angeles has no 
sympathy with strikers and boy- 
cotters. 

The report of the United States 
census showed that the annual value 
of the manufactured products in Los 
Angeles in 1900 was $21,297,537. 
It is a conservative estimate to say 



that this amount is today at least 
50 per cent greater, and is rapidly 
growing. 




MOUNT LOWE INCLINE 



"' '"S It needs but a brief trip around the 
city to show that building is most 
active in Los Angeles. Indeed, build- 
ings have been going up during the 
past year at the rate of over $1,000,- 
000 a month. The total value of 
the 6348 building permits issued 
for the year ending November 30, 
1903, amounted to $13,175,446. For 
several months Los Angeles has 
ranked fourth or fifth among the 
leading cities of the United States 
in the value of building permits, and 
has usually led all cities of the 
country, including New York and 
Chicago, in the number of buildings 
erected. This shows that Los An- 
geles, like Philadelphia, is a city of 
homes. There is probably no city 
in the country where so large a pro- 
portion of people of moderate means 
own their homes, or are acquiring 
them by installment payments. This, 
of itself, is a guarantee for com- 
mercial peace and good government. 
Solid Turning to the banks, we find an 
Banks equally encouraging condition of af- 
fairs. The banks of Los Angeles 
have been noted for their conserva- 
tism and stability, having come un- 
scathed through financial panics 
when banks throughout the country 
were tottering and falling. 

There are in the city of Los Angeles 
twenty-two banks, including national, 




STREET SCENE, LOS ANGELES 



state and savings banks. Their com- 
bined capitalization, according to the 
latest statement available, amounts to 
$6,100,000; surplus and undivided 
profits, $2,664,528; deposits, $51,- 
334,659 ; loans, $35,946,228 ; total 
assets and liabilities, $62,586,887. 

In the Los Angeles clearing house 
are twelve banks, nine of them 
being national banks. Their combined 
capitalization, as shown by the re- 
sponses to the last clearing house call, 
$4,650,000 ; surplus and undivided 
profits, $1,907,174; deposits, $30,- 
154,575; loans, $19,569,031 ; total 
assets and liabilities, $39,197,949. 

There are ten savings banks with a 
combined capitalization of $1,450,000 ; 
surplus and undivided profits, $757,- 
354; deposits, $21,180,083; loans, 
$16,377,196 ; total assets and liabili- 
ties, $23,388,937. 

As compared with the statement of 
December, 1902, the commercial 
banks show an increase of capitaliza- 
tion of $1,300,000; increase of de- 
posits, $3,444,339. 

The savings banks show an increase 
of two ; an increase in capitalization of 
$700,000 ; an increase of deposits of 
$5,393,918; increase of loans, $4,- 
344,143. 

The aggregate banking assets (all 
classes) have increased within the 
year more than $1 1,000,000. 



Records of the clearing house of 
Los Angeles city banks show the 
total clearings for the fiscal year 
ended September 30, last to have been 
$228,527,582. For the previous year 
the aggregate clearings were $225,- 
917',7S0, showing an increase of over 
27 per cent. 

This is certainly a remarkable 
showing for a city of less than 150- 
000 population, so far from the great 
financial centers of the country. 

Comparisons are said to be odious, A Talc of 
but a brief comparison of certain j^^ Cities 
features of growth between Los An- 
geles and the chief city of the State 
can do no harm. Here are statistics 
from the United States census show- 
ing the percentages of increase of 
population, manufactures and bank 
clearings in San Francisco and Los 
Angeles for the decade 1890 -1900 : 

SAN LOS 

FRANCISCO ANGELES 

Population, 35 103 

Manufactures, 2* 115 

Bank Clearings, 22 300 

^Decrease. 
So much for the material resources. j|^g Social 
and advantages of Los Angeles. As 
to the social side, equally much might ^'a^ 
be said. The population of Los An- 
geles is cultured and cosmopolitan, 
including representatives of every 
state in the Union, and almost every 
country in the world. School houses, 
churches, clubs and lecture rooms 
abound. There is every facility for 
acquiring education in art and music. 
Those who are "on pleasure bent"" 



need never have an idle moment. 
There is scarcely a day in the year 
in which life in the open air may not be 
enjoyed. In the summer the pine- 
clad mountains attract many lovers 
of nature, and the numerous beaches 
are crowded with health and pleasure 
seekers, some in neat cottages and 
others in tents. The fishing in the 
ocean is unsurpassed, and every place 
of importance has its golf club, with 
enthusiastic members. Polo and ten- 
nis are also among the popular out- 
door sports. Tallyho parties to places 
of interest are frequent. 

Los Angeles and the neighboring 
section is rapidly filling up with 
beautiful homes, built by eastern peo- 
ple of wealth and culture, most of 
whom have first come here merely 
for a brief pleasure trip, then have 
returned, and finally have been won 
by the charms of this peerless sec- 
tion and have become permanent 
residents. 



II 




BAY AT AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND 



3477-200 



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